Polish Radio External Service, according to their website (www.thenews.pl ) the only shortwave transmission for B11 Winter, is on 3955 kHz from 1800-1900 UTC via Sitkunai, Lithuania. This is sad as I was a semi-regular listener to their programs having grown to like them when the CBC's Overnight Service used to carry them at 4:30 AM (local).(Mark Coady/ODXA via Cumbre)

For nearly 53 years Harold Camping has been a prominent figure in Christian broadcasting. On Monday The Christian Post was exclusively told that the 90-year-old was no longer able to lead his Family Radio ministry, and would be retiring.

During the last several years the Family Radio network has suffered operating losses and two of their stations, WKDN in Philadelphia and WFSI in Annapolis, Maryland covering the Washington, DC area, are being sold, tentatively to CBS. On Monday, Family Radio began soliciting donations to offset those losses, even though the broadcasting outlets currently owned by the company are potentially worth hundreds of millions(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Tentative SIT = Sitkunai relays in Lithuania. Latter schedule not updated yet, shows still A-11 table:IRIB German service site shows still the summer schedule, but somebody of the listener sent a comment with new winter channels.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has told a popular Voice of America TV program he just can’t understand what was behind a controversial statement made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday.

Mr. Musharraf, who appeared on Monday’s edition of The Platform, a co-production of VOA and the Pakistani cable network, Express 24/7, was questioned about President Karzai’s recent statement that “Afghanistan will side with Pakistan," if ever there is a war between Pakistan and the United States.

Mr. Musharraf described the statement as “preposterous,” saying, “I just don’t understand...I think this must be crazy, I don’t agree with this statement at all.”

Mr. Musharraf, who appeared on the program with former U.S. Senator Bob Graham, took a series of questions from a live studio audience in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

Asked what it would take to bring peace to Afghanistan, Mr. Musharraf called for a more inclusive government in Kabul, one that includes more ethnic Pashtuns in key leadership positions. “I’m afraid we have to have a balanced Pashtun-dominated government in Afghanistan, whatever it takes, because Pashtuns have always ruled Afghanistan, we cannot ignore their presence.”

Senator Graham and President Musharraf also discussed the U.S. Pakistan relationship, and both said the two countries had many common interests. Mr. Graham said the two would have to work at improving “day-to-day” relations.

Mr. Musharraf said ties between Washington and Islamabad were perhaps at their “lowest ebb,” and both he and Senator Graham said the U.S. use of drones to strike at terrorist targets had added to the strains.

The joint VOA / Express 24/7 program, which is broadcast on cable in Pakistan Monday and Tuesday evenings, offers viewers a chance to submit their own questions to U.S. and Pakistani newsmakers, who also take questions from program hosts as well as the studio audience in Lahore.

For highlights and links to the show, visit The Platform’s Facebook page or visit the VOA Urdu language webpage at www.voanews.com. For more information about this release, email Kyle King in Washington at kking@voanew.com .

The Voice of America is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of about 123 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages and are intended exclusively for audiences outside of the United States.(VOA)

Libya11600 kHz. Radio Télévision Libye, Tripolis Libye today Oct 24. Transmitter at Sabrata on air very late at 16.06.15 UTC. More than fair signal noted in Genua Italy and Finland Europe, S=9+15dBm. Program on same muffeled audio quality like yesterday, today measured and noted bandwidth like - three different audio levels, best is 1000 Hertz tone from thetransmitter site, followed by "Russian Waltz" music wide of 4.4 kHz, and annoying spoken part quality of small 3.11 kHz.

Suffered by 11600 kHz co-channel CRI from Baoji-CHN in Swahili to Africa from 1700-1757 UT.

And also hit by some "fade out" heavy splash from 11590 kHz Radio Pakistan Islamabad which appeared from 1721 UT onwards. SDR radio notch cut function of 11585 to 11599 kHz portion upgraded to worth listening.

Identification in French and Russian Waltz music started at 16.07:23 UT. For audio quality comparision I recorded some piece of VoRussia Grigoriopol in French on 11635 kHz at 16.54 UT in between.

At 16.55 UT a African vernac folk song played from Sahel zone.

At 17.11:20 UT modern West African like rumba music played, with singer in French language.

Anncmt ID in French logged at 1729 and 1747 UT. Much talk on Libye Revolution, as well as Revolution Francaise at Paris Bastille.

Dear DX-friends,I listened to Libya this afternoon( Oct 24) at 1610-1735 UTC on 11600.00 kHz which had a broadcast in French with SINPO 35433 - 45443 and S up to 9+30 dB, but a very muffled voice audio. Their audio of music was perfect: Vienna waltzes and light instrumental music which was often played! They had frequent, new ID's: " Radio Libye, Tripoli" and "Ici Radio Télévision Libye, Tripoli". This obviously has replaced the former Gaddafi names "Libyan Jamahariyah Broadcasting Corporation" and the external service "Voice of Africa". Mostly talks on the same time schedule as former Voice of Africa in French about the revolution and future democracy in Libya, about the obduction of the corpse of Muammar Gaddafi, the declaration of military victory of Libya in Benghazi and the democratic election yesterday in Tunisia and about developments in Syria. All was very different content to what was heard on the Voice of Africa! Slight interference from *1700 from China Radio International, Baoji in Swahili, then SINPO 54443.

"For information, Paolo (IZ1MLL) made a list of RAI frequencies. Normally each RAI transmitter transmits at the end of each hour a time signal (decodable with Clock the companion of Multipsk located in the Multipsk package):"

The updated situation of the italian RAI transmitters divided by frequency (kHz) and power (kW) is the following:

Alan Wiener announced on his Friday night show that starting today, WBCQ will be moving from 7415.0 kHz to 7490.0 kHz at the request of the FCC.

The reason he gave is that the Civil Air Patrol is starting a new HF service, and will be utilizing 7416.0 kHz as one of its frequencies for this service.

Actually CAP has been using 7416.0 in the Southwest Region for quite some time now. It is part of their relatively new HF ALE Region networks that they established earlier this year. 7416.0 is part of the CAP SWR Net 6 family of frequencies. The complete list of known Southwest Region Net 6 freqs includes 4512.0 4627.0 7416.0 10550.0 12183.0 14457.0 16333.0 22872.0 26617.0 (ALE/USB). You can find their (CAP)nationwide Net 9 ALE net freqs on the Milcom blog at click here.

There will be a big list of several hundred active and current US Gov/Mil HF freqs in my December 2011 MT Milcom column to play with so don't miss that issue.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Long may it wave...but not much longer. The transmissions of BBC's station Radio 4 on 198 kHz emanate from a pair of meter-high "valves" that are irreplaceable. Once the remaining store of the big bottles is gone, the broadcasts may well go dark. On the air since 1926 and serving areas out of range of FM stations, transmission moved to 200 kHz in 1934 and then to 198 kHz where it can be found today. (Thanks, Tomas NW7US)

Winter shortwave schedules will be effective October 30, 2011. In the coming days, I will be posting various broadcast schedules to assist in your radio monitoring. Don't forget to check back often.GVH

The State We're InJonathan Groubert and his team look at current events from an unexpected perspective.

This week: Above and beyond

Like the Wall Street overseer who got fired for investigating insider trading, the Kenyan man who got blinded in the US Embassy attack and later climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and an Australian man whose blood donations have saved over two million babies...

First airing: Saturday 02:00 UTC

Marnie Chesterton and her team look at the footprint we’re leaving on our planet.

This week: Simple life

We head back to the land, to the simple life. But is it really that simple? From killing your own deer for meat and clothing, to growing things in a cramped slum, or foraging in the forest, we examine how to get the most out of the land around us, and what it takes.

South Asia WiredStories from South Asia.

This week: A silent epidemic

A silent epidemic is claiming India’s young – people like Shafiq Sheikh who had his tongue and a part of his cheek removed. In his last few months, Shafiq couldn’t eat or speak and was in horrible pain. He was in his early 20s and had for years chewed gutka, a paan substitute ubiquitous in India. India has the highest rate of oral cancer in the world and it’s caused by what for many Indians is their favourite mouth freshener.

(There'll be a new edition of the programme on Thursday 27 October 2011)

Bridges With AfricaWe're giving the microphone to Diaspora groups in Europe and are linking up with stations in Africa.

Passion for music is the key to Dudu Manhenga’s success as an Afro jazz diva. Dudu sings about love and unity.

With her Shona and Ndebele parentage, Dudu unites Zimbabwe’s once polarised ethnic groups in her music. Her career stems from early encounters with musicians like Dorothy Masuka, who came from her neighbourhood in the country’s second capital Bulawayo.

With other popular Southern African musicians Dudu promotes music skills among women.

First airing: Monday 18:00 UTC

Commonwealth StoryA selection of winning stories chosen from the large number of entries for the 2010 Commonwealth Short Story Competition.

This week: Something from nothing - by Barbara Jenkins from Trinidad & Tobago. A sweepstake sensation.

First airing: Tuesday 00:55 UTC

Global PerspectiveWho says I can’t… is the motto of this year’s collaboration of international broadcasters, offering stories of defiance and perseverance.

This week: Who says I can’t fish?

Around one billion people in the world rely on fish as their primary source of protein, but fishermen in many parts of the world are having greater restrictions put on their fishing because of concerns about the level of fish stocks and the marine environment. The BBC World Service introduces us to Fred Normandale, one of the few remaining fishermen in the small town of Scarborough in the North East of England.

First airing: Monday 17:30 UTC

Hear the WorldListen to the world’s musical heartbeat on RNW. A brand new world music series hosted by Dheera Sujan.

This week:

Afel Bocoum and his band Alkibar from Mali sing about social issues in their country as well as about nature.

Bringing in a bit of swing from Brazil, the Edu Miranda Trio presents a jazzy mix of Portuguese fado and Brazilian rhythms.

Despite the Balkan sound of their music, Tarhana is a Dutch-based band. They take in a wide range of regional influences, from Turkey to Tajikistan.

The unmistakably Greek voice of Elena Nena Venetsanou ends this edition with songs full of melancholy and tragedy.

First airing: Monday 00:00 UTC

RNW ClassicalClassical concerts from the Royal Concertgebouw as well as studio recordings of Dutch performers, presented by Hans Haffmans.

6134.80, Radio Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 0034-0140. Nice songs, commercials, and Spanish discussion. Male tenor with romantic song. Signed off at 0113*, fair. (Bell, Bernardini and Bolland). Also heard at 1007-1020, Spanish comments on a crowded frequency here with a Korean clandestine, that has been here the last month or so. (Bolland/DXW439)

Brazil4915, Radio Daqui, Goiânia, GO, 2314-0003.* Brief Portuguese talks and IDs between pop music selections. A few time checks, periodic advertisement strings and jingles. Carrier cut mid-song during a romantic vocal. Poor to fair. (D’Angelo). Also heard at 0911-0923, Portuguese announcer and music. (Wilkner/DXW439)

9564.91, Super Radio Deus é Amor, Curitiba, PR, 0015-0157. Two male pastors noted in Portuguese with shouting and cheering. Good signal on // 11765. (Bell and Bernardini). Also heard at 0606-0805, in Portuguese with religious program. Station ID at 0655 and address. Full station ID 0705 with frequencies, 0802 ID and popular song. SINPO 35433. (Van Arnhem, Méndez and Wagai/DXW439)

9819.76 Radio Nove de Julho 0106-0113. Male announcer with religious talk in Portuguese. Lots of "Espiritu Santu", etc.. Fair signal but a strong carrier came on at 0113 on 9820 wiping out 9deJ. (John, WIlkins, CO/Cumbre DX)

Canada6165..034, Voice of Vietnam relay, 0125-0128. Music at tune-in followed by female announcer's talk in English and gives ID as the "Voice of Vietnam ..." Doesn't mention whether or not this is a relay. Signal was very good suggesting it was a relay from somewhere in North America, probably Canada? Both EIBI and AOKI database says it's via Sackville. On the half hour the program changes to Vietnamese language. Overall the signal was good. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

China4940, Voice of Strait, Fuzhou, 1500-1530. Signal pips to station ID: “This is Voice of Strait, Focus on China.” Events of the past week include: major story about the killing of Chinese sailors on the Mekong River, Russian Prime Minister Putin had a two day visit to China, ten year anniversary of signing China-Russian Treaty on Good Neighborly Friendship and Cooperation. Music bridges between items, 1516 “Voice of Strait, Focus on China.” Mailing address, edited MP3 audio posted at http://www.box.net/shared/bdlyu4zvsvxkut6gsov1 . (Howard/DXW439)

Clandestine9950, Furusato no Kaze, via Taiwan (presumed), *1330-1357.* Usual talks in Japanese with a one-song musical break at 1347. At 1351 a list of names was read, all with Japanese surnames. Closedown routine at 1353 with e-mail address and schedule. Abrupt sign off. Good signal. (Wilkins in DXplorer/DXW439)

17745, Sudan Radio Service, via Sines, Portugal, 1535-1540. African pop song to public servicde announcement at 1540 in English about pollution, the environment, recycling, how to do compost. “A healthy environment means a healthy living for all”, “Conserve the environment. A message from Sudan Radio Service”, back to music. SIgnal quality mostly fair. MP3 audio at http://www.box.net/shared/k6s8n1j7d883df8bg1x4 (Howard/DXW439)

India6155.020, All India Radio, Delhi, 0120-0130. Noted a good signal here with a program of local type music in possibly the Urdu language? Noted parallel signal on 5010.00 kHz but very weak. 6155 was good. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

Indonesia4749.987, RRI Makassar, 1005-1015. At tune noted male in Indonesian with comments. Believe a female was also commenting during this time. At 1007 music commenced as the signal was threshold.(Chuck Bolland, FL)

3325 RRI Palangkaraya 1240-1325. Long indigeneous vocal numbers, followed by long blocks of phone calls taken by female announcer who giggled a lot. Peaked around 1315 at an amazing S9+25 dB. Very glad they're back on the air, with their good signal and very eclectic programming. (John Wilkins, CO/Cumbre DX)

Japan3945, Radio Nikkei 2, Chiba-Nagara, 0828-0838. English ballad selections, but by the accent, seems by a Japanese female singer. No signal of Raido Vanuatu underneath, SINPO 34433 (Lucio Otavio Bobrowiecs, Brazil/Cumbre DX)

Mexico6009.96 Radio Mil 1209-1232. D.F. ads, CDT (UTC-6) time check, then back to news-talk, with long phone calls - sounded like correspondents' reports or maybe short interviews. More ads at 1232. Generally fair, with an occasional good peak. (John Wilkins, CO/Cumbre DX)

6184.98 Radio Educación 1017-105. Segued marimba tunes, no announcements until 1031 ID. Mentions of 1060 AM with 100,000 watts, website www.radioeducacion.edu.mx , and 6185 SW. More non-stop marimba music followed to 1059, at which time a strong CH-lang station came onto 6185.Excellant signal. (John WIlkins, CO/Cumbre DX)

Micronesia4755.47 The Cross Radio 1240-1335.+ Religious music - interspersed with occasional inspirational messages. Signal fair at tune-in, poor by 1330. Guess they once again "forgot" to turn off the shortwave transmitter. (John WIlkins, CO/CUmbre DX)

Myanmar5985.83 Raido Myanma 1252-1330. Usual program of vocal music, hosted by female announcer, followed by presumed news at 1330. Fairly good signal for many days now, with no interference until the *1329 sign-on of strong Shiokaze on 5985. Hopefully, Shiokaze is about ready for one of their periodic moves to another freq, which would leave RM in the clear. (John Wilkins, CO/Cumbre DX)

Peru4746.965, Radio Huanta Dos Mil, 1020-1030. Noted female in Spanish with comments with mentions of "Peru" during here comments. She continues to talk as the signal remains at a fair level. (Chuck Bolland, FL).

4774.963, Radio Tarma, 1007-1015. Noted the usual morning format of middle-of-the-road style ranchero music. Canned IDs noted between and during the tunes. Signal was at a poor level. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

5039.207, Radio Libertad, 1000-1015. Sounded like the station was just opening to the day's programming with a tune that sounded very nationalistic. After the music, canned ID by a male. So after a few moments of waiting, it seemed to be correct that this was the opening of the day's programming. At 1004 UTC, ordinary popular music was heard. Signal remained at a fair level. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

Uganda4976, Radio Uganda, Kampala, 0408-0415. Talk by man in what sounded like English. Very weak signal, only occasionally peaking above the noise. Much weaker than Zimbabwe on 4828kHz. (Jim Evans, TN)

Zimbabwe4828, Zimbabwe BC, Gweru, 0406-0415. Ballad music. Talk by man in what appeared to be English. Weak signal in noise from passing storms. CODAR interference was also present. Faded down into the noise after 0415.(Jim Evans, TN)

Solar activity was low. Activity for the period consisted of numerous C-class flares. The primary contributors were Region 1319 (N11, L=051, class/area Eki/280 on 16 October) and 1314 (N25, L=056, class/area Cho/370 on 12 October). The background solar flux levels and sunspot numbers stayed elevated throughout the week due to the number of active regions on the disk, but most of these were stable and were not flare productive.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at background levels throughout the period.

The geomagnetic field was mostly quiet during the week. A brief substorm interval was observed at high latitudes early on 12 October. There was a modest increase to quiet to unsettled levelswith some isolated active periods at high latitudes on 15-16 October. Solar wind observations from the ACE spacecraft indicated an increase in solar wind velocity on 15-16 October which hadsignatures consistent with a coronal hole driven high speed solar wind stream.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 19 October - 14 November 2011

Solar activity is expected to be predominantly low with a chance for an isolated M-class event for 19 October - 01 November due to the number of active regions as well as the return of old Region 1302 (N12, L=280, class/area Fkc/1300 on 24 September), which produced two X-class flares and numerious M-class flares during its previous disk transit. Though initially very active, old Region 1302 decayed and became much less flare productive by the time it exited the solar disk on 05 October. As of the issue date of this report (18 October) old Region 1302 was just beginning to rotate onto the solar disk and appears to be a likely source for occasional C-class flares and may pose a slight threat for M-class flares. Solar activity is expected to decline to very low to low levels for the remainder of the interval from 02-14 November. As always during this time of the cycle there is also a chance for unexpected flux emergence which could elevate solar activity levels.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at background levels for most of the outlook interval with the exception of 28 October - 01 November when an increase to high levels is expected due to recurrence.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be quiet for 19-27 October, generally unsettled for 28-30 October, quiet for 31 October - 02 November, unsettled for 03-05 November, quiet for 06-10 November, unsettled for 11-13 November, and quiet for 14 November. The increases to unsettled levels are expected due to recurrence from coronal hole driven high speed solar wind streams.

Radio Nacional de Angola in the eastern Moxico province will build a new shortwave transmitter with an output of 25 kW, granted on Oct 14, 2011, in Luena, by the board president, Pedro Cabral.

According to the official, work has taken place in Luena for some time and will be installed in High-Luena district within a circle of 500 meters... Radio Nacional de Angola had a shortwave transmitter in Moxico until the early 80's, when it left the air for technical reasons. Read more at http://gruporadioescuchaargentino.wordpress.com/ (in Spanish) . (Angola Pres, via Slaen Oct 16)(DX Window 439)

Ecuador’s telecommunications authorities have agreed to explore and test the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) standard with help from two organizations based in the South American country. Radio Station HCJB and the Unión Nacional de Periodistas (UNP or National Journalists’ Union) representatives agreed with the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUPERTEL) to offer training and assist in testing the DRM standard that Ecuador is considering. SUPERTEL will also evaluate other digital radio standards.

After a short signing ceremony in Ecuador’s capital city of Quito on 7 October, training sessions with SUPERTEL technicians began four days later on the campus of Radio Station HCJB.

In recent years the governments of India and Russia have selected DRM as the standard for broadcasting bands in those countries. In Latin America, the DRM standard is under consideration by Brazil where the Ministry of Communication held a seminar on digital radio standards in September.(Source: HCJB/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), at its meeting on October 13, adopted a new five-year strategic plan designed to grow and reform US international broadcasting. The Board also highlighted recent incidents of harassment and jailing of BBG journalists in Egypt and Turkmenistan.

BBG’s 2012-2016 strategic plan aims to make BBG the world’s leading international news agency by 2016, focused on both mission and impact, and targeting a 50 million worldwide audience gain. Titled “Impact through Innovation and Integration,” the plan calls for the establishment of a global news network and development of new delivery and anti-circumvention technologies. It also recommends streamlining management, evaluation of the possible consolidation of the three grantee networks into one organization, exploring possible de-federalization of the federal agency components, ending language duplication, modernizing distribution mechanisms to reflect the media audiences prefer, and repealing the ban on domestic dissemination of BBG programmes contained in the 1947 Smith-Mundt Act.

The plan calls for the agency to focus not only on generating outstanding content but also embracing content generated by our audiences and creating an interactive environment in which they can converse with us and each other. To reflect the dual focus, the Board adopted the following new mission statement: “To inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.”

“This plan is a response to the ever-changing world we live in,” said BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson. “To retain and increase our audiences and impact, we have to be smart and capitalize on the opportunities of digital integration and audience engagement.”

At the meeting, MBN President Brian Conniff shared a video clip showing armed Egyptian military members entering Alhurra’s Cairo studio and interrupting live coverage of the violent clashes between Coptic elements and soldiers on October 9. RFE/RL President Steve Korn discussed the case of RFE/RL contributor Dovletmyrat Yazkuliyev, who was sentenced to five years in prison by the Turkmenistan government in what appears to be an attempt to silence his reporting.

“Every day our people risk intimidation, violence, arrest and imprisonment to gather and report the news,” said BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson. “The threats to BBG journalists clearly demonstrate the challenges and risks we face as we continue to battle censorship and champion media freedom.”

Governor Susan McCue highlighted the launch of the BBG’s volunteer Commission on Innovation last month in New York City. The Commission represents the BBG’s effort to tap the expertise of visionary leaders in digital media to help the Agency increase its impact among audiences abroad.(Source: Broadcasting Board of Governors)